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Cleveland kidnap victim at sentencing: "I spent 11 years in hell"

By Debbi WilgorenThe Washington Post

Posted:
08/02/2013 12:01:00 AM MDT

Updated:
08/02/2013 01:14:07 AM MDT

Michelle Knight addresses the court during sentencing for Ariel Castro, in orange, who abducted three women, including Knight, between 2002 and 2003 when they were between 14 and 21 years old. They escaped in May. (Angelo Merendino, Getty Images)

Ariel Castro Sentenced

Of his three captives, who were repeatedly bound, beaten and raped over the course of a decade and were repeatedly deprived of food as well as their freedom, Castro said: "I simply kept them there without them being able to leave."

Castro lured each of his victims to his home by offering them rides and then lying to them about what was inside his residence, a police detective testified at the sentencing hearing. He offered Knight a puppy, told Amanda Berry she could visit his daughter, whom Berry knew, and asked Gina DeJesus for help moving a stereo speaker.

Each of the women told police they trusted Castro, in part, because they knew at least one of his teenage or young adult children.

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Within minutes of getting each woman inside the house, Detective Andrew Harasimchuk said, Castro tied them up and raped them. It was an immediate and horrific beginning to a decade of physical, sexual and emotional abuse.

During her captivity, Berry became pregnant by Castro and gave birth to a child, who is now 6 years old. Knight has told authorities that Castro impregnated her multiple times and then starved, beat and mistreated her until she miscarried.

"You took 11 years of my life away, and I have got it back," said Knight, the only one of the three victims to testify in court. "I will live on; you will die a little every day."

As part of his plea deal, Castro, 53, received a sentence of life with no chance of parole for aggravated murder on a charge of forced miscarriage. He also received 1,000 years for the kidnapping, rape, assault and other charges.

He was ordered to have no contact with his any of his victims, including his 6-year-old daughter.

Castro apologized to Knight, Berry and DeJesus at the sentencing hearing. But in a rambling, 20-minute statement, he also disputed he had been violent, saying there was "harmony" in his house and insisting he was a good father to the girl he fathered with Berry.

"I am not a monster. I am a normal person. I am just sick," Castro said. "I have an addiction. Just like an alcoholic has an addiction."

At different times, he appeared to blame the FBI and the women themselves for various aspects of their long captivity. He said he did not plan to abduct Knight when he overheard her asking for directions in a dollar store, but he did so on impulse, driven by his aberrant sexual urges.

Knight was 21 when she was abducted by Castro in 2002; Berry was taken in 2003, at age 16; and DeJesus was kidnapped in 2002, when she was 13 years old.

The women escaped Castro's house May 6 after Berry kicked out part of a door and called to neighbors for help. Police who arrived on the scene entered Castro's house and found Knight and DeJesus on the second floor. Castro was arrested hours later.

Cleveland Police officer Barb Johnson, once of the first officers to respond, said all three women were thin, scared and unnaturally pale. Other police officers testified that more than 100 pounds of chains and padlocks were found inside Castro's home.

Photos entered into evidence showed the cluttered basement and small, shabby rooms where the women were held captive, along with a wig Castro made the women wear on the very rare occasions when they were allowed to leave the house. There was also a confessional letter, handwritten by Castro, that included the line, "I'm a sexual predator."

When he pleaded guilty last week, Castro said he understood the charges against him and that he would never be released from prison, adding: "My addiction to pornography and my sexual problem has really taken a toll on my mind."

In her statement, Knight said Castro would routinely attend church Sundays "then come home and torture us."

"The years turned into eternity. I knew nobody cared about me. He told me that my family didn't care," Knight said. "Nobody should have to go through what I went through."

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